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Noah Rothman

The Benghazi controversy means Hillary may need a Democratic primary in 2016

If the Benghazi scandal’s implications continue to mount, and the coverage of that scandal is characterized by enduring questions about Clinton’s culpability in that controversy, she may not only want but invite what appears to be an unlikely prospect at this stage of the 2016 election cycle: a competitive Democratic primary. If Clinton coasts into the general election as her party’s presidential nominee with questions about her role in the Benghazi scandal lingering, the scandal could find new life and achieve unforeseen resonance with the electorate. When the individual asking pointed questions of Clinton’s complicity in that attack is not an ally of the White Hose but an aggressive Republican nominee, the charges will take a more exacting toll on her appeal as a candidate. …

The damaging allegations go on and on. Given, however, the lack of interest the political media has shown in investigating the scandal, festering and unresolved questions about Clinton’s complicity in a cover-up of the pre-planned nature of that attack are likely to have persistent staying power.

This is probably a more politically damaging condition for Clinton than if she had simply been directly implicated in a cover-up of the nature of the Benghazi attack. Those questions about her complicity having been definitively answered, the interim between today and the start of the 2016 campaign would be characterized by mea culpas and an ensuing rehabilitation.

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I thought the fact that we lived in a representative republic was the reason we need a Democratic primary in 2016.

On that topic though, I have been very curious about this. Let’s say this scandal doesn’t do enough to derail Hillary’s chances and that she is at least viable enough to still run in 2016. Do her primary opponents dare bring up Benghazi? You know the Democrat Party will be seriously PO’d, but if you wanna have any shot at stealing the nomination, you have to make it an issue.